Festivals cancel Ten Walls appearances

Creamfields, Sónar and PITCH have taken action in response to the Lithuanian's anti-gay comments last week.

Several festivals have removed Ten Walls, AKA Marijus Adomaitis, from their lineups in response to his recent anti-gay comments.

The festivals include Creamfields, PITCH, Pukkelpop, Mysteryland Netherlands, Urban Art Forms Festival and Sónar. Creamfields issued a statement saying: "Whilst we respect freedom of speech, we find his defamatory and prejudiced comments about the gay community extremely offensive and feel that this is not in line with the spirit of Creamfields." PITCH explained: "We are against any form of discrimination whatsoever, on and off our festival site. Comments like these are so far from our beliefs that it wouldn’t make any sense to have this act playing our festival." A Sónar statement read: "Ten Walls will no longer be appearing at Sónar 2015 as his statements are at odds with the nature and ethos of the festival."

These cancellations come a few hours after UK house artist Fort Romeau pulled out from an upcoming slot supporting Ten Walls at London's Koko club. In a Facebook post, he stated: "While cancelling one gig is hardly going to change the world, it does stand as a personal rejection of bigotry, fear and intolerance."

All of this stems from a Facebook post Ten Walls made from his personal account on June 3rd. The post, which was picked up by Gay Star News, made a number of derogatory comments towards homosexuals, including calling them a different "breed" and stating that in "the good 90s… these people of different breed where fixed [sic]" The original post (in Lithuanian) was soon removed, and followed by an apology (also in Lithuanian). In this apology, Adomaitis said: "I want to apologize for the former post in my account. I am really sorry about its insulting content which does not reflect my true opinion. I hope this misunderstanding will not provoke any more thoughts and opinions."

Earlier this afternoon, Adomaitis posted a message from his Ten Walls Facebook page, claiming that the original post was "completely out of character" and that he would like to apologise to his "friends in the gay community." He also stated that he has cancelled his upcoming shows.

Finally, Adomaitis's former bookers, Coda Music Agency, have dropped Ten Walls from its roster. A statement from the London-based agency explains: "Coda Music Agency condemns all forms of discrimination based on race, religion or sexual orientation. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and to represent a hugely diverse roster of artists. We no longer represent Ten Walls." Adomaitis's North American booking agency, Liaison Artists, has also dropped Adomaitis from its ranks.